Barney Frank Wants All Troops Home From Iraq: 'What The Hell Are They Doing There?'

[unhappycamper]

Barney Frank Wants All Troops Home From Iraq: 'What The Hell Are They Doing There?'
Ryan Grim
[e-mail] | HuffPost Reporting
First Posted: 09-24-10 11:07 AM | Updated: 09-24-10 11:07 AM

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called on Friday for President Obama to bring the 50,000 troops remaining in Iraq back home to the United States, arguing that it's inappropriate to deploy troops trained for combat in a non-combat situation.

"What are they there for, if it's not combat? To monitor elections? To mediate religious disputes? Let's get them home," Frank said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "What the hell are they there for?"

Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that designating the troops "non-combat" does not persuade insurgents not to shoot at them. Frank made his remarks as part of a broader critique of the U.S. military's presence across the globe.

He rejected the notion that America is "the indispensable nation," that it must be a global cop that responds to trouble all across the globe. "People've gotta learn to dispense with us," he said, adding that if it could be shown that U.S. involvement across the globe is beneficial, he would reconsider the position, but, in general, he said, U.S. intervention only backfires.

The defense budget, he said, "ought to be cut very substantially," suggesting that basing 15,000 Marines in Okinawa is no longer necessary and a "cultural legacy of the Cold War."

[madrchsod]

1. same question the iraqis are asking.....

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/opinion/iraq-still-under-us-occupation

[theHandpuppet]

2. Amen to that, Rep. Frank!

And why aren't more Americans demanding that our global occupying forces return home?

[RandomThoughts]

3. Somone should have a serious conversation on the entire cold war.

[madrchsod]

4. ever wonder just where some of those lost billions went in iraq?

could it be 4 billion to purchase solid gold tiles for this--


http://www.bassamsebti.com/2010/09/new-golden-domes-what-about-people.html


i used google translator

http://www.non14.net/display.php?id=10592


there`s very few iraqi bloggers left in iraq. i can find just a few left that have stayed. most are in the west ,other middle eastern countries , quit, or disappeared.

even the planted cia/usa military bloggers are gone.

iraq-the forgotten war.

[FlyByNight]

5. What are they there for?

Three letters: O-I-L. Coincidentally enough, isn't the US military the largest single consumer of oil in the world? Per Jeremy Scahill (paraphrasing), the remaining 50K troops signify a downsized, rebranding of the occupation.

The current imperial posture is, simply, unsustainable. The Pentagon budget is nothing but very narrowly targeted economic stimulus. Chalmers Johnson's books, Nemesis and The Sorrows Of Empire, are very enlightening (and a little depressing).

Dismantle the empire.

[malaise]

6. Can't disagree with him but what about those

in Korea and Germany?

[USArmyParatrooper]

7. They're doing a RIP/TOA with Iraqi forces so they can take over.

[chelsea0011]

8. Add Afghanistan to the same question.

[whathehell]

9. Good on him!....I'm glad someone brought up the point of cutting the defense budget.

It's freaking bankrupting us.

[Sherman A1]

10. I agree with the Congressman, it's time to bring them

all home.

[bvar22]

11. Proud to STAND with Barney on this!

"The defense budget, he said, "ought to be cut very substantially,"

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

[FraDon]

12. Bring 'em home; bring 'em home.

… no longer necessary … if ever they were. (Unless your portfolio grows from the misery of others.)

'What The Hell Are They Doing There?'

The question of every age. Keep on, Barney!

•

[old mark]

13. We have troops stationed all over the world, and ships sailing in every ocean all the time.

It's about time we stopped.

It is crazy and it is killing our people at home for no fucking reason.

I am a veteran, and I support military action when and where it is needed, but I don't see any real need anywhere in the world right now, other than a rearguard action in Afghanistan to make it easier to get us out permanently sooner.

If you need diplomats, send them. If you need "peacekeepers", call on the UN. We must stop pointlessly policing the world while our people are suffering at home.

mark

[maryf]

19. We must stop pointlessly policing the world

but dontcha know we have to protect our interests??? life is suffering after all...:sarcasm:

you are so right it's time we stopped! :fistbump:

[UTUSN]

14. Besides never should have been there, here's what they're doing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8rm56hTDDs

[msongs]

15. US troops are guards for war profiteer US corporations and Barney KNOWS THAT nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. They're there to improve their tans. The guns are just fashion statements.

[Overseas]

17. K&R! //nt

[Golden Raisin]

18. In Iraq?

Guarding "our" oil. :sarcasm: In all the other far-flung outposts and provinces of the Empire? Just protecting "our" other interests.

[flyarm]

20. K&R

[treestar]

21. As a rep, he ought to know